National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
Representing the Business Interests of Agriculture

Washington, DC—USDA's Value Added Producer Grants program helps farmer cooperatives and their members compete in the globalized economy, said Rick Harris, the president of Sunkist Taylor, LLC today. This matching-fund program allows producers to explore valueadded opportunities and create sustainable farm income and jobs in rural America.

Harris's testimony came at a hearing held by the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture to review current rural development programs as the process of writing the next farm bill begins.

Harris described how Sunkist Growers, a farmer cooperative with 6,000 members in California and Arizona has used a USDA value added grant, combined with matching funds from the cooperative, to help develop and market a line of fresh-cut, ready-to-eat citrus and other fruit to schools. The program was especially useful since the Sunkist Growers cooperative is "often competing against the massive marketing budgets of the major corporations comprising the snack and beverage industry," Harris emphasized. Sunkist Taylor is a joint venture between Sunkist and Taylor Farms, designed to expand the reach of this product line.

"Since the original grant, millions of packages of fresh cut fruit have been distributed to kids from Boston to New York to North Carolina," Harris said. "Eighty percent of [Sunkist's] growers have fewer than 40 acres, and therefore should be considered small farmers. Earnings derived from Sunkist activities, including this new value added venture, are returned to the 6,000 grower-owners of the cooperative on a patronage basis, boosting their overall income."

In his testimony, Harris outlined the proposal endorsed by the Value Added Grants Coalition that funding of the program be set at $60 million annually in the upcoming farm bill. Currently, the program has repeatedly been funded at less than 50% of the level authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill.

"Congress faces many challenges in the current budget environment," Harris concluded. "We appreciate the difficulty of your task and at the same time, we want to emphasize the continued importance of the Value-Added Agricultural Market Development Producer Grants and other essential programs that seek to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. agricultural sector, strengthen farm income, improve our balance of trade, promote rural development, and create jobs."

NCFC is a national association representing America's farmer cooperatives. There are nearly 3,000 farmer cooperatives across the U.S. whose members include a majority of our nation's more than 2 million farmers, ranchers and growers. These farmer cooperative businesses handle, process, and market agricultural commodities and related products; furnish farm supplies; and provide credit and associated financial services. Earnings from these activities are returned to their members on a patronage basis. Farmer cooperatives also provide jobs for nearly 250,000 Americans, many in rural areas, with a combined payroll of over $8 billion.